1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to achievement awards. More particularly, the invention concerns an award trophy construction that includes a decorative member, a supporting base and alternate forms of connectors for interconnecting the decorative member with the supporting base.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Achievement awards of various types are frequently given to individuals and athletic teams for outstanding achievements in sports such as golf, bowling, tennis, baseball, basketball and the like. These awards include medals, plaques and a number of different types of small statues of which frequently take the form of a decorative member of an appropriate design that is mounted on a supporting base. Exemplary of one type of achievement award is that described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,834,073 issued to Greenblat and to the present inventor. This latter patent discloses an achievement award which comprises a substantially transparent, injection molded acrylic plaque, and a supporting base. The transparent plaque has a decorative design or image, which appears to be embedded in the central portion of the plaque. The central portion of the plaque includes a front face and a rear face wherein the fossil-like image is formed in the rear face. At the base of the central portion is a three-dimensional insert which is also injection molded. This insert connects the central portion to the base.
A very popular type of prior art trophy construction is depicted in FIG. 1 of the drawings of the present application. This construction comprises an injection molded decorative component such as a figurine or the like, a supporting base and a decorative riser column that extends between the supporting base and the decorative component. The base of the decorative component includes an outwardly extending threaded stud that is typically molded into the base of the decorative component during the molding process. This prior art trophy construction also includes an elongated connector rod having a first threaded end that can be connected to the threaded stud by means of an internally threaded coupler. The rod extends through the decorative riser and includes a second threaded end that protrudes into a cavity formed in the supporting base. A nut, which is threadably received over the second end of the rod, functions to interconnect the supporting base and the decorative riser. U.S. Pat. No. 5,322,739 issued to Stagl discloses a trophy construction of a somewhat similar configuration.
It is in object of the present invention to provide a novel trophy or award construction that includes a decorative member, a supporting base for supporting the decorative member and an alternate means for interconnecting the decorative member with the supporting base.
More particularly it is in object of the invention to provide a construction of the character described in the preceding paragraph in which the decorative member includes a base portion that is provided with alternate types of connector mechanisms for connecting the decorative member to a supporting base.
Another object of the invention is to provide an award construction of the aforementioned character that has alternate configurations. In one form of the invention, the base portion of the decorative member includes a peripheral portion having a locking rim that can be lockably interconnected with a yieldably deformable locking assembly that is affixed to and extends upwardly from the upper surface of the supporting base. In another form of the invention, the identical base portion of the decorative member can be interconnected with the support base by means of a threaded rod which is threadably received a within a threaded bore formed in the base portion of the decorative member.
In this latter form of the invention, the award construction includes a riser column which is disposed between the decorative member and the supporting base. The elongated threaded rod extends through the riser column and is interconnected with the supporting base by a threaded nut thereby providing an award construction having a completely different appearance from that of the first form of the invention.